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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
Quarter for
South Dakota

The Commemorative Quarter for South Dakota





Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in West Britton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Britton and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for West Britton:
    • 45.791367, -97.839470
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on West Britton
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Waymark.com

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Britton ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Eden
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Eden is located in Marshall County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eden <2>
  • Frisby ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frisby have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frisby
    • Frisby is located in Clark County
  • Harlem ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harlem. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem
    • Harlem is located in Sargent County (ND)
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Harlem
    • From West Britton to Harlem
  • Havana
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Hillhead
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
  • Kidder
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Lake City
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
    • Lake City is located in Marshall County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake City <2>
  • Rutland
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rutland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutland
    • Rutland is located in Sargent County (ND)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rutland <2>
  • Spain
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spain
    • Spain is located in Marshall County
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 989 people

How Far From West Britton to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as West Britton to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of West Britton once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in West Britton and extending to:

  • Britton, which is the Seat of Marshall County, lies just to the East.
  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 155 miles [249.4 km]<5> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from West Britton to Pierre, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,159 miles [1,865.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 66 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,322 miles [10,174.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,084 miles [11,400.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,014 miles [8,069.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.sd.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about West Britton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Britton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Britton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.7914, Longitude: -97.8395       In this case, the coordinates for West Britton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<7>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from West Britton to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.597 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.03 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.988 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025